My New Shoes

I fell down a couple times on the way into the grocery store, but it was worth it!

Baby's Growing Up

Three is an amazing age. They start out as babies and end up on the other side as pre-schoolers. Lilah has done so much in the last few months. Her language has expanded, she can play a single note rhythm on the piano, she is all potty trained- even at night! And today she did this- wrote her name all by herself. It's the first time we've tried it- I wrote her name and she copied it and added some pictures. (I'm thinking it's her in the future, with really long bangs- lifting barbells.) She's also a jokester- today she handed me something (I forget what) I said "Thank you" and she bowed at the waist and said "You're Welcome" very seriously- then she giggled and ran off.

School Project Confession

Hello, my name is Simon Bolivar and I have come to burn you.

Hazel came home with a massive project a few weeks back. She had to write a paper with sources, an oral report with a poster and create this creature out of a two litter bottle. Subject picked for her- Simon Bolivar- South American revolutionary. Try to explain colonialism, revolution, despots, and such to a third grader who is not interested. This morning as we were driving to school I was drilling Hazel on points to help her with her oral report- Q:What's a dictator? A: Someone who makes themselves the boss and puts you in jail or makes you leave the country if you don't like it!

It was hard editing her paper without doing too much. I would say "read that sentence out loud, does it sound right?" She would figure it out. I was also impressed, she didn't use spell check while she was typing- it was on- but she would figure out how to spell it herself, not use the suggestion. After a few hours she ended up with a page and a half- double spaced. That was sufficient, I thought. She managed to add her voice- something that a lot of college kids can't accomplish. Here is a quote that Mark and I found amusing...

"The King and Queen from Spain thought they should be in charge of South America. But Simon Bolivar didn't want that because they were so far away from each other and it really didn't make sense!"

Hazel wrote the paper, she did a good job- but this 2 liter bottle thing. I had to do it! Hazel couldn't cut the felt (it was very difficult to cut with our dull scissors) and I couldn't let her use the glue gun, which was the only thing that will hold felt, by the way. We tried other glue and his clothes just fell off after an hour. She did draw the face and oversaw what I was doing. I was so mad while working on it, especially the several times that I stuck my fingers in hot glue. Wouldn't a poster be enough? Then to make it worse- Lilah reached across the table and burned her arm on the tip of the glue gun. It was awful. I realized I didn't know how to deal with burns, since we never burn ourselves! Lilah cried and cried, she kept yelling something about it being my fault. Really. At 3. She's okay, but she did point out the burn this morning mournfully- probably thinking "this is all your fault!"

I don't want to be one of those parents who does their kid's homework. I felt caught with this one. At least I didn't get too fancy- (she wanted to add arms and get all crazy)- and as I glued I would say "Is this where you want it?"Does that count for something? Sigh.

Beatrix Potter-palooza!

This is for all you Potter fans- Beatrix- not Harry. Last night I was browsing the classical music section on iTunes. I was looking for new dance music for the girls. I found a collection of ballet music that included selections from something I had never heard of- The Tales of Beatrix Potter Ballet.

I couldn't believe it!!! How have I not known about this??? Did you know, and why didn't you tell me? The music was delightful and charming, I immediately found the whole ballet and bought it. Then I searched youtube to see if there was a video sample. Glorious day! I found many. The ballet was originally composed for a TV version in the UK in 1971. Later it was adapted and performed on the stage. Here is a sample of the stage version:

I mean COME ON! I thought I had seen the most adorable Beatrix Potter adaptation with the animated series as seen here... The Tale of Two Bad Mice. But this ballet is just over the top, I could hardly take it last night as I was watching it with the girls. I was squealing with delight as each new character appeared. The TV version is even more delightful because of the sets and lighting- (I tried to embed this but couldn't) Here I present to you my dream come true-- the dancing squirrels of Squirrel Nutkin! You can get the whole 1971 TV show on Netflix. Ours is coming this week!!! EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!